PennTAP

PennTAP

Penn State Wilkes-Barre Chancellor Dale Jones and Director of Continuing Education Jane Ashton have announced the addition of Donna Yale to the continuing education staff at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Northern Tier Center in Towanda.

Penn State entrepreneur Matt Roda co-founded Reflexion Interactive Technologies to develop a better concussion-monitoring device. The sophomore’s company won $15,000 after winning a “Shark Tank”-style competition against other Penn State startups.

Penn State undergraduate students and local entrepreneurs will compete for $30,000 in funding to help grow their businesses in a student-pitch competition, “The Investment,” that will air at 8 p.m. on today (May 4) on WPSU-TV.

The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program workshop to educate businesses about how to save money by becoming more energy efficient has been postponed due to impending weather. The all-day Facility Operations Workshop, originally set for March 14, has been rescheduled to take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 27 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.

For all those people who find themselves grasping for words when meeting new people or starting conversations, Andrew Simpson, a senior in criminal justice, has the answer. Simpson started Someonew — an app to connect people with similar interests — and made the pitch for his startup as part of the Invent Penn State Venture and IP Conference, held at the Penn Stater Hotel Conference Center Oct. 6 and 7.

The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program was awarded $655,000 in grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to offer free energy and environmental assessments to businesses across Pennsylvania. PennTAP is a federal-state-university partnership program at Penn State that was created to enhance economic development across the Commonwealth by addressing needs that will improve a company’s competitiveness.

Health care providers can have their questions about the “meaningful use” of electronic records and other information technology topics answered at the Rural Health IT Challenges conference, to be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 12 at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. There is no cost to attend; the event is co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) at Penn State is celebrating 50 years of helping businesses across the commonwealth become more competitive and sustainable. PennTAP has provided no-cost technical assistance and energy saving programs to businesses in Pennsylvania’s 67 counties since 1965. This federal-state-university partnership was originally one of the first of its kind in the nation. Legislators, PennTAP clients and staff will celebrate the milestone at a reception on June 2 at The Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg.

PennTAP’s Advanced Information Technology Solutions team, with funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, has been able to offer a student internship program since 2011 that places students in paid positions with businesses around the state.

According to the PennTAP annual report, the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program provided 273 cases of technical assistance to clients across the commonwealth in 2013. Clients have reported more than $7.7 million in economic impact and 72 jobs created or retained. And many Penn State students are now involved with projects across the state.

A group of Penn State energy engineering students recently teamed with the University’s Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) to conduct on-site energy audits for two Pennsylvania businesses as part of a senior research project. The audits are being used to help the companies save money by identifying ways to conserve energy and reduce waste in their industrial facilities.

Two manufacturers working with the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP) at Penn State have received certification from the U.S. Department of Energy for significantly reducing their energy use.

PennTAP provided 272 cases of technical assistance to clients across the commonwealth in 2012. Clients have reported more than $9.6 million in economic impact and 156 jobs created or retained, according to its annual report. Also, Penn State students provided more than 4,100 hours of assistance to businesses to improve operations and processes.

Alternative fuel use by the wood products industry could reduce the industry's dependence on fossil fuels and decrease its emissions.

A new resource guide created by the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP), the Penn State College of Engineering, and the Mid-Atlantic Clean Energy Applications Center (MACEAC) promotes the use of one such alternative fuel: combined heat and power (CHP). CHP, also known as cogeneration, is the simultaneous production of electricity and heat from a single fuel source -- in this case, on-site waste products such as sawdust, wood shavings or bark.